H1N1 Vaccine: The Slow Supply Slogs On

It had been a month since I wrote about the H1N1 influenza vaccine supply, and I was curious what had happened during November. The numbers aren’t pretty.
According to a Dec. 4 Webpost by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of Dec. 3, a total of 63.3 million H1N1 doses had shipped to U.S. providers. Shipments [...]

Pulling Back The Curtain on the FDA

From the FDA’s Public Meeting on Transparency at the National Transportation Safety Board Conference Center, Washington, DC
Outside of the C.I.A., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been one of the most enigmatic federal agencies, inscrutable to the industries it regulates, a mystery to the public, and feared by executives at small publicly traded companies [...]

The Selling of the Vaccine

Last week, the new vaccine for pandemic influenza H1N1 reached the American public, with some 4 million doses available nationwide and promises that an additional 20 million doses will reach U.S. vaccine dispensers weekly through the rest of this year.

Along with the vaccine came a high-intensity publicity campaign by government officals urging the American public to [...]

What H1N1 Tells Us

Here’s the answer: The current H1N1 flu pandemic tells us we need a better, faster way to make flu vaccines.
Monday, Oct. 5 was an important day in the influenza world: It was the day the new H1N1 vaccine rolled out, it conincidently was the CDC’s official start to the new U.S. flu season (even though H1N1 infections have [...]

Is the H1N1 Vaccine Safe Enough?

from a meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, Washington D.C.
Vaccine safety is a contentious topic, and it looks like the new vaccines against pandemic H1N1 flu will face some skepticism as they start to roll out to the American public in early October. This was clear in a brief but telling exchange during a meeting Sept. [...]

The Health Care Worker Protection Paradox

 

From an Institute of Medicine workshop on workplace protection against novel A(H1N1) influenza, Washington, D.C.
I spent the last day and a half listening to presentations on various topics related to the transmission of the novel A(H1N1) influenza virus, the filtration properties of surgical masks, and the effectiveness of respirators in preventing the spread of the virus.
This was [...]

CDC and the Media

From the Association of Healthcare Journalists’ fellowship week at the CDC, Atlanta
It was a full first day here at the CDC, where I am participating in the AHCJ fellowship along with 10 other health reporters.  Judging by the speakers’ enthusiastic demeanors, it seemed that they were very happy to have us. 
The day began with an [...]